Detroit Free Press Movie Writer

Related Links

In the midst of the busy holiday movie season, the Detroit-themed documentary "Burn" had a very strong opening this past weekend.

The movie about Detroit firefighters and the dangerous challenges they face performed so well, in fact, that the AMC Livonia 20, the AMC Forum 30 in Sterling Heights and theaters in Chicago and Washington, D.C., are holding "Burn" over for another week. It was originally scheduled to run through Thursday.

"Burn" made than $54,000 at four screens during its opening weekend. While that sounds modest compared to the millions earned by Hollywood blockbusters, it's an impressive number in the world of independent films and documentaries. Itís even more noteworthy for a project made through donations that the directors have been showing on a grassroots tour, and was booked into the AMC theaters on a trial basis.

"Burn" averaged about $13,600 per screen overall and a whopping $20,000 per screen at the two metro Detroit locations.

Compare that to the opening weekend of "Skyfall," the new James Bond hit that averaged $25,000 on about 3,500 screens, according to Box Office Mojo.

Or contrast it with "Hyde Park on Hudson," the high-profile art-house film with Bill Murray playing President Franklin Roosevelt, which averaged roughly $20,000 per screen at four theaters for its opening last weekend in New York and Los Angeles.

Another small movie that debuted last weekend, "Lay the Favorite" with Bruce Willis and Rebecca Hall, opened at 61 theaters with a $344 average.

The makers of "Burn," Tom Putnam and Detroit-born Brenna Sanchez, were initially told by Hollywood that there was no market for a firefighter documentary. They said today that they're happy the film is demonstrating its ability to succeed at the box office.

"We're so excited about the film's performance, because our hope is other theaters will now see the movie has a strong audience and we'll be able to bring 'Burn' to different cities," Putnam said.